Drunks and Coatchecks

My 23 year old son goes to a nightclub and pays $3 to check a $250 coat. When he gives the coat check back, the check girl cannot find the coat. After much searching he takes the manager’s card, but forgets to get back the ticket, and goes out in the cold December night (now morning).
After my son spoke to the manager and emailed the manager’s boss, they failed to produce the coat and asked him where his ticket was. I then sent an email to the boss, asking for replacement cost. It was a very nice email and included a signature indicating I was a professor of law. I encouraged them to be good business people and to meet their legal obligations.

The boss responded by saying that after talking to his manager, the coat check, the security guards, that my son had mis-informed me. He said he would pay the money because it was no longer worth his time. And he would never allow my “intoxicated and rude” son into his club again.

Hey, can you get back the money from my web hosting service that incorrectly triple-charged myself and several thousand other customers and still hasn’t refunded the money? If not, is there any way I can get some kind of courtesy affiliation with something with “law” in the name that I can put in my signature file?

The check in fact came in the mail yesterday. Would I be committing libel if I put out the name of the club? Truth as defense? Anyway, my son and I consider ourselves whole. I feel somewhat empowered by having used persuasive powers. I wonder what lesson my son learned from this. Keeping faith in a just world? Don’t check your coat? Be sure to keep the damn ticket? It’s good to have a dad who can pretend to be a lawyer?

Jeremy, you may have a class action. And a very powerful organizing device. Probably not worth your time though.